Sunshine
by Invalid String
Summary: Stuck in a loveless marriage she once thought she needed, Sakura realizes that when gaining everything she ever wanted, she lost everything she had. But one day, a friend from the past resurfaces and Sakura finds herself reaching for the flash of sunshine before it fades away.
1. Chapter 1

Like memories in cold decay

1

_Sasuke_

It was a name synonymous with everything dark.

_Sasuke_

It was a name that brought back memories, lots of bad ones and not so many good ones.

_Sasuke_

It was a name that was once taboo, but no more.

_Sasuke_

It was a name that belonged to Sakura's husband.

It was a hectic day at the Konoha hospital. The way things worked around Konoha had changed drastically since Sasuke's return. He and Naruto had come back barely alive, but that didn't faze Sakura Haruno no she was Sakura _Uchiha_ now. Naruto had returned a greater hero than ever before, and Sasuke had returned the poor victim of the old Konoha Council's treachery. He was forced to wear chakra-suppressing bracelets for the first month and a half, but that was all the punishment he got. Not even a slap on the wrist.

Sakura glanced down at the gold wedding band that sat on her left ring finger like a beautiful handcuff. When Sasuke returned he insisted that he needed to marry and reproduce to continue the Uchiha line. Since there was no relatives left of the once great clan that had been reduced to blood and ashes at the hand of their thirteen-year-old heir when Sasuke was only five, he was able to choose from any Konoha girl there was. He chose Sakura.

At first she was happy. She was madly in love with the dark-haired man and had always hoped to marry him one day.

Then things began to fall apart.

Naruto was sent off on a yearlong mission to Kirigakure to work on his diplomatic skills. Sakura began to feel a familiar ache in her chest, the same ache that came whenever she thought of Sasuke back when he first left. No more were their weekly lunch dates to Ichiraku's, and no longer was she healing his silly practice wounds whenever he sparred with Lee. No, the ache was worse. She felt empty.

When she first married Sasuke, she felt like she was flying. Soaring, really. She had just married the love of her life – and it was true, she loved Sasuke – and they had just spent a month touring the Elemental Nations on a honeymoon. She couldn't have been any happier.

Now, it felt like she was flying on paper wings.

"Uchiha-sama." The receptionist didn't even recognize her, or if she did she made no move to show it. It was Watanabe Ami from the ninja academy. After failing the academy entrance test she dropped out and went to civilian school. She now worked at the hospital where Sakura was the head with Shizune. "You're next patient is waiting for you. Shall I send him in?" Sakura ran a hand through her tousled carnation pink hair and sighed.

"Sure," she muttered, feeling the effects of a particularly hectic day. A cup of coffee once steaming sat on her desk having cooled considerably since she made it. She took a sip anyway, wincing as the cold liquid slid down her throat.

"Do I have to get a shot?" a voice asked. Sakura froze. She knew that voice anywhere. Lifting her head, her assumption was confirmed when she saw the familiar sunshine blond hair and cerulean blue eyes that sparkled with warmth.

"Naruto." She breathed. "You're back."

* * *

**Heyy, I'm back! So this a new story that I created literally this morning because I was listening to a great song (thumbs up to you if you know the song from the title and cover art). -IS**


	2. Chapter 2

Save me, I'm lost

2

Sakura should have guessed it. There had been rumors floating around the town that Naruto was back, but she chose to ignore it, instead heading to the hospital for her early morning shift. Checking the clock, Sakura saw that it was half an hour before her lunchtime.

"Well, you're healthy enough. You just need the updated flu shot and then you should be fine." Sakura scribbled the prognosis on a white sheet of paper attached to a scratched up clipboard.

"Do I have to get a shot?" Naruto whined, a frown marring his tanned face. Sakura snorted while prepping his shoulder with rubbing alcohol.

"Of course you do, you big oaf. I don't need you getting sick; my schedule's busy enough." She reached into the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a needle covered in blue plastic wrap. "Since I haven't seen you in a while, lets go get lunch after this." She jabbed the needle into his shoulder, releasing the clear liquid. Naruto winced, but Sakura quickly wiped the hole with more rubbing alcohol and slapped on a band-aide.

"Sure thing, Sakura-chan, but isn't Sasuke waiting for you or something?"

_Sakura-chan._ Sakura felt the ache in her heart as he said her beloved nickname.

_Sasuke._ Sakura felt a pang of regret as she thought about her dark-haired husband.

"No, he's on a mission today." Sakura replied, taking off her white doctor's coat. "Shall we go?" Naruto smiled brightly and the two of them walked out of the hospital.

The walk was silent; the only sound Sakura heard was the pounding of her heart against her ribcage.

_You've got me upside down._

"So what happened after I left? Have a kid yet?" Naruto grinned brightly, the smile practically stretching from ear-to-ear, but Sakura knew it was a ruse. He truly loved her, even after all the heartbreak she put him through.

_Why?_

Sakura snorted instead.

"A kid? It's way too early to think about that, Naruto." She pushed his shoulder before sliding quickly into a seat at Ichiraku's. "Chicken ramen, old man!"

"I'll have my usual." Naruto piped up. Old man Teuchi greeted the pair before having his only child, Ayame, prepare the food.

"Haven't seen you around here in a long while, Naruto Uzumaki." Teuchi said sternly, placing the steaming bowls of his famous ramen in front of the pinkette and the blond. Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"I really missed this ramen, Teuchi-oji." Naruto practically chugged the ramen before Sakura swiftly punched him in the sternum, causing him to drop the bowl.

"Eat like a human." She commanded before slurping her own noodles slowly. "It's quite repulsive, actually." Naruto blushed.

"Sorry Sakura-chan."

"So I hear you're married to the Uchiha now, eh?" Teuchi waggled his eyebrows. Sakura smiled softly, but on the inside she was hurting.

At this point, she didn't know whom she loved.

At this point, she wasn't sure if she knew herself anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm letting go of Paris

3

"How was your mission, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, pouring her husband a cup of steaming tea.

It wasn't _Sasuke-kun_ anymore.

Sakura couldn't really remember the last time it was.

Sasuke grunted, downing the cup in one gulp before demanding more. Sakura dutifully poured it.

"Was it successful?" Sakura poured herself a cup of tea, sipping it casually. It was like talking to a brick wall, a series of grunts was all that signified he was listening.

"I don't fail missions." Sasuke snorted, taking off his kunai and shuriken holster and placing it on the table.

"Sasuke, don't put that on the table." Sakura admonished, her pink eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Playing the dutiful housewife was not something she was very good at. "And I do recall we failed often when we were a team." The last Uchiha simply rolled his eyes.

"It's because I had to carry the weight of you _and _Naruto." He said. Sakura felt her anger bubbling at the obvious insult. How dare he call her weak! It was true; she was weak before, but not anymore. When he first left, she went to Tsunade and begged her to train her. It was grueling and painful, but she grew leaps and bounds.

Sakura took the silence to observe her husband. He had the same smooth skin, the color of alabaster. He had the same, dark eyes that were always slightly narrowed. He had the same aristocratic nose, a slight bump on the bridge where he had broken it multiple times. He had the same raven hair that spiked in the back, practically defying gravity.

He had the same darkness in his heart.

She was pulled out of her brief musings by the sound of Sasuke rising from his seat.

"I'm going to take a shower." He announced, leaving the room without so much as a squeak from the floorboards underneath his feet.

A true shinobi.

Sakura stayed, sitting and listening to the birds chirping happily outside the window. A state numbness invaded her, pervading her senses and replacing them with a steady hum. It was a feeling that Sakura felt frequently whenever she and Sasuke 'chatted'.

It's just a fantasy taking over like a disease.

Sakura rubbed her stomach where an Uchiha baby would most likely soon rest. How she wished the baby could grow up like her with a mother and a father who loved it dearly.

It wouldn't happen.

Some part of her knew she was pregnant already.

Morning sickness, nauseous feelings making her stay in bed all morning and often times all afternoon too.

She wouldn't allow it to happen this way.

Sasuke was leaving on another mission tomorrow morning, early. She would do something about it then.

Till then…

Sasuke would never find out.

x

How do we call this love?

Sakura lay in the bathtub, allowing the warm water and bubbles to soothe her aching body – and heart.

But even after all the pain that Sasuke's had put her through, Sakura found herself aching for _him_. After all the sweat, blood, and tears, Sasuke was still her first love and in pushing him away, she found herself wanting him more.

But this frustration, the constant feeling of not knowing what would happen with them, it tore Sakura apart.

It seems like we've been losing control.

She knew Sasuke didn't love her; she knew she was simply a means to an end, a way for Sasuke to revive his clan.

But then there was Naruto. She knew he loved her, even after all these years. His brightness, the happiness that radiated from his being never faltered even in his darkest moments.

He'd tried with Hinata, but it wasn't meant to be. He needed someone with a personality nearly as fiery as his, and Hinata hadn't produced that.

He'd tried with a medic-nin, Yuki was her name, but that didn't work either. She was too much into his fame rather than himself.

A green glow emanated from Sakura's abdomen, lighting the dim room in a ghostly glow. She felt the baby's chakra and worked to eliminate it.

No child of hers would grow up unloved.

She'd spent her whole life choosing, and she always chose wrong.

But she ran into a problem quickly. Sakura had been low on chakra since her shift at the hospital and midway through her procedure she was practically drained. A fierce pain in her abdomen alerted her of an issue. The baby's chakra was reacting badly with her own.

Frantically mustering her strength, she attempted to get out of the bath, but her muscle betrayed her. Using whatever chakra she had left, she summoned a small slug.

"Get Naruto." She commanded breathlessly. "It's an emergency." A sheen of sweat collected on Sakura's forehead and she began to violently shake and convulse. She needed medical attention and fast.

But Naruto would always be there for her, and after what seemed like an eternity, said blond barreled through the bathroom door.

"Sakura-chan!" he cried. His eyes quickly spotted her and he ran to the bathtub's edge. "Sakura-chan, are you okay?" His eyes screamed concern, a frown marring his face. Sakura hated that frown.

"Hospital!" she gasped, convulsing again. "Shishou, now." Naruto was about to lift her out of the tub, but he balked.

"Sakura-chan, you're not wearing clothes." He said dumbly, a scarlet blush spreading from his cheeks to the back of his neck and the tips of his ears.

"Dummy!" Sakura snapped. "Wrap a towel around me or something, it's-" Sakura convulsed again, unable to finish the sentence. Taking a deep breath, Naruto calmed whatever emotion raged within him and grabbed a plush red towel from the rack. Wrapping it around the lithe pinkette's form, he shattered the window and sprinted to the hospital not caring what he did or broke.

"Tsunade!" he hollered, entering the hospital doors minutes later. "Tsunade, Sakura-chan's in pain!" A barrage of nurses came to retrieve the now screaming pinkette from his arms and rush her into the ICU while one nurse – ironically it was Yuki – went to fetch the blond Hokage from her quarters.

"Wait here, Naruto-kun." An older nurse who worked the front desk said, pointing to the sterile sitting area. Pale wood chairs upholstered in plain grey sat in a neat row, only broken up by the occasional pale end table. The ninja took a seat and immediately began biting his nails.

Tsunade rushed through the doors, right past Naruto and into the ICU, which was on the fourth floor.

"Sakura, what have you done?" she growled.


	4. Chapter 4

You know I held on too much

4

The first thing that greeted Sakura Uchiha when she awoke in the hospital room was the scowling face of her shishou. Blond eyebrows furrowed and creases marring her forehead. Sakura gulped inaudibly, not yet ready to take on the anger of Senju Tsunade.

But Tsunade had been in this business for too long, and knew right away by the change in breathing that Sakura was awake.

"You," she pointed an accusatory finger at the pinkette.

"Me," Sakura squeaked.

"You are a piece of work, Sakura." Tsunade picked up the clipboard that was attached to the end of the hospital bed and scribbled something furiously. "I have to tell Sasuke about this." Sakura paled considerably.

"What will you tell him?" she finally ground out, struggling to sit upright on the bed. Shizune, who had been standing attentively at the door rushed over to adjust the pillow behind Sakura. Tsunade watched Sakura for a moment, her critical honey eyes burning a hole in the petite medic.

"You had a miscarriage. I hope you had a good reason for doing what you did." Tsunade was no stranger to clan politics, and the fact that Sakura would even attempt such a thing was understandably horrible.

"I did have a good reason." Sakura said.

"You leave in the afternoon." Tsunade said curtly before leaving the room in a whoosh of her pristine doctor's coat.

x

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked as he and Sakura sat across from each other in the dim formal dining room. Sakura had served a simple dinner of curry and rice, feeling to weak from her hospital stay to make anything extravagant.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." She replied with a bright smile, eyes sparkling with warmth.

But the heart reveals what the smile betrays.

Sakura wasn't fine. She loved Sasuke, and she loved her now dead baby. But she didn't love the idea of both of them together. She knew Sasuke's past with his father, and she was terrified that no matter how much he tried that he would end up being like Uchiha Fugaku.

"It's a shame." Sasuke said after a tense moment of silence.

"Hmm?" Sakura was surprised that he would be starting a conversation, something he seemed to be doing a lot today.

"It's a shame," he reiterated, "I was looking forward to having a son of my own." Sakura dropped her fork and it landed on her plate with a clang. Sasuke rose with the grace of a shinobi and rushed to his wife's side. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, helping her up and leading her down the main hallway and into their bedroom.

Darkness hadn't completely taken him over, Sakura realized. There was still some light.

Sasuke helped her into the bed and sat next to her. "What happened?" he asked.

"It was a miscarriage." Sakura internally cursed herself for her less than believable lie. The trademark frown made its way onto Sasuke's face again, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he kissed her forehead (another unusual action by Sasuke) and left the room. Sakura's heart went out to her husband, the man she fell in love with all those years ago.

I just want to save you while there's still something left to save.

* * *

**Oh my god, I'm sorry its so short! I needed a good place to stop otherwise it just would have gone on and on and on and you get the idea. Enjoy! - IS**


	5. Chapter 5

You can hide but some of us can never leave

5

Now Sakura knew for a fact that Sasuke wasn't the only Uchiha left in existence. When Naruto had defeated Tobi, Tobi rushed off to hide and heal. He was in a near death state, bleeding from virtually everywhere in his body, his chakra system wrecked from Naruto and Hinata's tag-team shot before the Hyūga was incapacitated for the remainder of the final fight. His vision, although he had the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, was ruined with congealed blood filling his eyesight before drying into a caked brown color. His Rinnegan eye had been stabbed out.

But this had all happened before.

Sakura, as a medic, knew that someone _could _survive in a near death state and recover. Maybe not to full power, but recovery was not ruled out. The chances were slim. But if anyone could survive something like the final fight with Naruto, it was Tobi. If anyone could survive a hard battle it would be an Uchiha. Madara did it with his fight with Hashirama, why couldn't Tobi?

And it was that thought, the thought that Tobi could survive, that he _would _survive, was enough to cause Konoha to have a kind of a dull fear in the back of their minds, even as they celebrated the victory, however short it may be.

It was that kind of fear that Sakura felt today, a fear not totally rational but completely real. Even though Tobi was in no state for hand-to-hand combat or even a simple jutsu, his eyes still worked and a certain technique was wholly functional.

Tsukuyomi.

And that was where Sakura found herself now.

Strapped to a large stone dais, the sky a sickly red color and the ground an ashen grey. Surrounding her was Tobi, half of his mask gone showing the warped Zetsu half of his face.

"What do you want Tobi." Sakura snarled. She had never been before in Tsukuyomi, but Kakashi-sensei had told her stories and they weren't pretty. Secretly she was terrified, if this simply jutsu could take down a potential Hokage candidate such as Hatake Kakashi then what could it do to her, a medic-nin?

The mind is a fragile thing. Genjutsu is designed to manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain causing a disruption in their senses. Genjutsu is created when a ninja controls the chakra flow of the opponent's cerebral nervous system, thus affecting their five senses.

The Sharingan. One of the most feared dōjutsu kekkei genkai in existence, it quickly became regarded as one of the Three Great Dōjutsu along with the Byakugan and the Rinnegan. The sharingan can put you in a genjutsu with just eye contact, and in Uchiha Itachi's case, without it. It is truly something to fear, especially when one Tobi Uchiha is using it.

"I want," a thin metal rod slid into Tobi's hand, much like Pein's, and he pointed it at her face, "for you to tell me where Itachi's eyes are." His eye, spinning and red, glared at Sakura with cold malice.

Sakura spit in his face.

"Even if I knew, you would be the last person I'd tell." She snarled. Without so much as a blink or a tensed muscle, Tobi jabbed the rod into Sakura's left shoulder, inches from her heart. A loud whimper left the pinkette's lips unconsciously.

"I'll ask again." Tobi took the other half of his mask off and threw it on the ground next to him. His left eye was missing, a black hole where a shining purple rinnegan used to be. "Where." He stabbed Sakura again, this time in the upper thigh. "Are." Next was the stomach above the belly button. "Itachi's." He pierced her forearm and stomach simultaneously. "Eyes." Five rods came out and were shoved deep into her chest cavity. At this point, Sakura was writhing on the dais, howls of pain filling the empty space.

"S-Sasuke." Sakura cried, screwing her eyes tightly. "He knows." Tobi released Tsukuyomi and Sakura fell unconscious on the cave floors. Tobi grinned wickedly.

"Betraying your husband, tsk tsk, Sakura. Some Uchiha wife you are." He kicked her abdomen harshly. "Uchiha Sasuke, come out come out wherever you are." He sing-songed. "Your _wife_ is here." Tobi felt a fluctuating chakra signature, but to his dismay it wasn't Sasuke's. It was a familiar chakra, one that made him shudder slightly. A chakra filled with so much warmth and happiness it was suffocating.

A chakra that belonged to the one and only Uzumaki Naruto.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks for the memories

6

Tobi's eyes flashed wildly around the dimly lit cave. Behind him laid Sakura sprawled, every few seconds convulsing from pain that never existed. In front of him was Naruto in all of his Kyūbi glory, a fiery yellow cape surrounding him and his eyes glowing red.

"What did you do." Naruto growled, taking an offensive step forward.

Tobi didn't reply.

Naruto growled louder.

The two faced off for some time, each pouring out killing intent that made the unconscious Sakura wither.

Any sane person would be cowering in fear from the killing intent Naruto poured out. With every glare was more and more of it.

But who's to say Tobi is sane? Instead of stepping back, he grinned, the corners of his lips curling up like a cats and his teeth, a few of them broken and other cracked, shone pale yellow.

"I will beat you again." Naruto yelled, balling his fists as the golden chakra of the Kyūbi cloak bathed him in power. Tobi cackled again, but he schooled his features. The only emotion in him – though dreadfully small – was in his eye that gleamed menacingly. Naruto thought it was anger and hatred. But it was disdain, and every bit of it was directed at Naruto.

That just made the blond jinchūriki even angrier.

All his life Naruto had been face to face with the disdain of all the citizens of Konoha, those who scorned him for what he held, and those who scorned him for what they thought me might do. The fact of the matter is, though, that he was truly alone in those darker times. All he wanted to do was to rise above the scorn and discord that the villagers sent his way and to lead them one day into a greater, more peaceful time.

"There is no such thing as a victory in this world. Hope… is only an illusion, a sign of giving up." Tobi pulled out a kunai with languid fluidity, a kind of disregard to the upcoming battle.

Tobi was arrogant. There was no way around the fact. Surviving the rock fall, being saved by Uchiha Madara himself, it is little things like this that made Tobi believe that he was chosen by Kami himself to lead the ninja world into a peace. This arrogance had led to his defeat at the hands of Naruto and his friends in the first place. But he was adamant that it would not lead to a second defeat.

"Enough of talking," Naruto bunched his muscles in his legs and bent down, ready to attack. "Let's fight."

"Couldn't agree more." Tobi said cheerfully as the two lunged at each other.

If you assessed both of their powers comparatively, Naruto was physically stronger than Tobi at the moment, but Tobi had more tact and better strategy than Naruto's lunge-and-dodge. Without his left eye, Tobi couldn't use Amaterasu, and it would take a few minutes for him to recharge enough to use Tsukuyomi on the blond jinchūriki. He would have to deal for now.

The blows fell hard from both sides. The sound of one kunai melded with the sound of the other, unleashing a shrill screeching noise. Sparks flew as they each put more pressure onto the other. But Tobi spiced things up. He let go with one hand, which allowed for Naruto to push back at him, but he slid under the kunai and lashed out at Naruto's leg with his foot. The jinchūriki fell with a loud thump. Tobi arose from the other side so now it was Naruto in between him and Sakura.

Red bled into Naruto's eyes as the Kyūbi's anger filled him. He lunged again, but Tobi parried and sent an uppercut to his chin. Naruto's head bent backward, blood trickling from his broken lip. The blond abandoned his kunai and with rounded fists, he began to dance with his arms.

But Tobi moved in rhythm to his dance, dodging away from his punches and trying to land his own. Neither of them made it very far.

After minutes of this, the two jumped back panting and observed each other.

"I believe this is what you call a no-win situation, ne?" Tobi grinned, his sharingan spinning faster and faster. "So shall we end-" He stopped mid-sentence, a lone eye rolling back into his head as he rolled forward onto the ground. A single clone of Naruto's stood behind, his hand extended and fingers pushed tightly together. He had knocked the Uchiha unconscious.

As quickly as the battle had begun, it was over, but arrogance was always Tobi's downfall, and he found himself in chains the next time he woke up.

But he wasn't in a cold, dark cell, no, he was in a lavish office sitting in a bronze chair with velvet red cushions.

With none other than Shimura Danzō sitting right in front of him, a grim smile etched on his elderly features.

"Welcome to my office, Uchiha Obito. Let's talk."

x

Sakura was securely held in Naruto's arms when she woke up. Her head rested comfortably on his shoulder and her arms were curled up at her sides. She glanced up at the blond ninja to observe him.

His slightly tanned face, his upward turned nose, his whisker marks…

Just like Sasuke, it had seemed like nothing about him had changed but his age.

She wondered if it was the same for herself.

"-uto." She struggled to form words, her mind still processing what she encountered in Tsukuyomi. "-uto." Although it was the fragmented form of his name, it still caught Naruto's attention nonetheless. He looked down at his former teammate with glee.

"You're awake Sakura-chan!" He squeezed her body gently. Sakura formed a weak smile.

"Yeah." A shudder ran through her body – a side effect of Tobi's jutsu. "Thank you." She gingerly lifted her arms and wrapped them around Naruto's neck before she buried her face in his collarbone.

"It was nothing, Sakura-chan. I will always save you." He said, a soft smile spreading across his face.

_I will always save you_.

And in that moment, Sakura kissed him.

She kissed him on the lips.


	7. Chapter 7

Without you I'm just a sad song

7

For as consistent of a person as she is, Sakura surprised herself more times than she could count.

And that included now.

Naruto stopped abruptly in his tracks, not kissing back, but not pushing the pinkette away either.

Sakura noticed this right away. She detached her lips from his, staring into his eyes with a confused look on her face.

"I thought you've always wanted to kiss me." It wasn't a question; it was a statement, plain as day. In fact, Naruto _had _always wanted to kiss her, but he wanted to do it when they were dating and not when she was married to someone else.

"You're married." He could barely form words, the sentence a ghost of a whisper.

And it hurt.

Naruto could see the want, the desire in her apple green eyes, a desire for no one else but him. More importantly, and the thing that shocked him the most, the thing that he'd never expect to see in Sakura's eyes, was love.

"What does that mean to you?" She whispered back, placing her broad forehead, the forehead Naruto always found so kissable, onto his.

"I can't have you." He replied hoarsely. "It means that you aren't mine to have." Sakura kissed him again. And again. And again.

"Just because I belong to someone else doesn't mean I can't belong to you too." All his patience ran out.

Naruto kissed her back.

They kissed for a while, basking in their shared love until Sakura stopped.

"What if I told you that I love you?" She asked teasingly. Naruto grinned at her little game.

"I'd say I love you back." They kissed for a long while until they needed air. "And if I asked you to leave Sasuke for me?"

A moment passed. Then another.

"I'd say one step at a time." Although her answer was joking, Naruto understood the weight behind the question and answer.

"Do you love me?" he asked seriously, "Or are you just playing my emotions?"

"Of course I love you!" Sakura cried indignantly, balling her fist and pounding it against his shoulder once.

"And do you love Sasuke?"

Even though Naruto was still holding Sakura tightly, it felt like he was a million miles away.

"Yes," she admitted hesitantly. Naruto's eyebrows knitted in anger.

"Then who would you choose?" Tears began to form in the corner of Sakura's eyes.

"I don't know!" she cried. "I don't know." She said quieter. "But I do know that right now, I love you too and you're here. So please, let's pretend like we're the only two people in the world, okay?"

Naruto kissed her lips softly. "Okay."

x

"So what do you want me to say." Uchiha Obito, in all his mask-less glory, sat facing Shimura Danzō who had a permanent frown on his face.

"Close your mouth and open your ears." Danzō barked, drumming his fingers on the top of his cane. "I have a few questions for you, then-"

"Then you'll hand me off to the T&I sector for more interrogation?" Obito challenged, ignoring Danzō's harsh words. He was met with a glare from the latter.

"What did I say about listening?" Danzō slammed his fist on the wooden desk causing it to vibrate. "And no, you will not be going to the T no one but Four, Seven, Forty-Two, and Uzumaki Naruto know you are here." Obito sent Danzō a quizzical look.

"I thought Uzumaki would have taken me to the Hokage?" It wasn't really a question, per se, more of a questioning statement, an obvious fact put on trial, because, Naruto _would _have taken Obito to the Hokage. But then why was Obito in _Danzō's_ office? Surely the Hokage – from what Obito had observed – didn't have _that _much trust in the old War Hawk, the Shinobi no Yami?

"I had Four, Seven, and Forty-Two pose as ANBU operatives. They intercepted Naruto at the cave and took you straight here. No one knows." Danzō explained coolly, his uncovered eye never leaving Obito's remaining one. The man's intensity almost scared Obito. Almost.

"He'll want to see me." Obito protested weakly. He'd rather be in the T&I than with Danzō.

"That can be averted, Uchiha Obito. Now no more talk from you." Obito wisely shut his mouth. "When you had two eyes, you had one sharingan and one rinnegan. Now you just have a sharingan." Obito nodded hesitantly, not sure where this was going. "What if I told you that you could have a new sharingan?"

Staying that he was stunned was an understatement as Obito was completely catatonic with surprise.

"You would give me, the killer of the beloved Yondaime, a new sharingan that I could use to destroy everything." Obito reiterated, disbelief invading his tone.

"I would give you a seal to ensure your loyalty, but a new sharingan, yes." Danzō, the sly bastard he was, thought it all out. "Your tongue will be imprinted with a special, _revised _seal. You will operate as a Root. Since Root are not shinobi, no one will know you exist. You will live here with the other Root, and follow _my _orders only. Understood?" Something in Danzō's tone made Obito feel like he had to agree. There was something that made Obito afraid to say no.

"And if I say no?" One last act of defiance. "Why do you even need me?" Danzō slammed his fist on the table. A loud groan came from said table before it shuddered then cracked in half.

"You don't want to know." Obito had to agree with that statement.

"But what do you need me for?" he asked again with more intensity.

"_We_," Danzō motioned his hand to the two of them, "are going to make Konoha the top." Obito gulped.

"And how do you intend to do that?" he whispered. Danzō grinned widely and proceeded to explain his plan to Obito.

x

"I need to hire someone with incredible skill. Someone who can get in somewhere and eliminate a target very quickly." There was someone wearing a crimson cloak and another person wearing all black including a black mask that covered everything but his eyes, which were a beady dark brown. One was ringed in ice blue.

"I have just the right person." The man laughed.

"Be careful what you want." An old lady hobbled in, her eyes shadowed by a thin layer of dull grey hair. "You're asking for a job with a price too steep." The man seemed angered by the elderly lady's presence.

"Why are you here?" He growled, stepping forward. The old lady looked up at the man with defiance.

"You once asked for something you couldn't handle and that is why you are the way you are." She mumbled. The person in the red cloak cut in.

"I will let you take care of this. I will come back with the payment next week." The person left in a swirl of dark mist.

"Why did you do that!" The man slapped her, the sharp sound echoing in the room.

"Because other people don't need to pay the price you did!" she yelled back. "Your arrogance is why the incident happened to you!" Her voice quieted, "It's the reason why you're blind."


	8. Chapter 8

On sleepless roads the sleepless go

8

Fukushima Taro sat by the window in a local teashop in Iron. His cup, long forgotten, sat untouched while he glared a hole in the floor.

He was thinking, thinking as to why his boss would give him such a difficult job. To make it more difficult, it was located in the most secure and jacked-up hidden village in the Shinobi Nations.

Konoha.

He had received a message from Cho, his boss's private messenger, that the job was going down when the target returned from a mission.

It wasn't going to be easy, not even close.

Sighing, Taro massaged his temples as he came up with plan after plan to kill the girl.

None of them seemed adequate.

'_This girl's a trained ninja, highly alert, it's like suicide.'_

Taro didn't know how he was going to accomplish his job, but when the boss told him to do something, he did it without question.

He was going to kill Haruno Sakura.

x

Naruto led Sakura to a room near the end of a grimy motel hallway. Before he opened the door, he gave Sakura an apologetic smile.

"It was the only thing for miles." Sakura shrugged, snuggling closer to Naruto's warm body.

"It's fine," Naruto let his hand slip off the door handle and fall to his side limply.

The two remained like that for a few minutes.

Then Naruto did something.

He pushed Sakura against the door roughly and began kissing her with a hunger she had never seen from him, not even with ramen.

She, of course, kissed him back.

His hand brushed the small of her back while reaching for the doorknob and pushing both of them inside the room and onto the bed.

Sakura detached her lips from his and stared into his bright blue eyes.

They were so blue.

Something in Sakura's eyes caused Naruto to begin kissing her again, an unspoken response.

Because Sakura needed someone to numb the pain.

x

Whenever he was questioned, Yakunan became very defensive.

Especially when Kagami questioned him.

Yakunan began sifting through pieces of paper that littered his desk.

So much paperwork was involved with running an underground society. Sometimes he loathed being the head.

"Yakunan-" Kagami began, but was quickly silenced by Yakunan's hand which rose in a 'stop' motion.

"Be quiet!" he snapped. Throwing a thick manila folder her way, she easily caught it despite her advanced age and read the overview.

"Shimura Danzō wants a meeting with us?" she asked. "But we're practically a circus crew."

Yakunan, while blind, knew exactly where everything was. He rummaged through the second drawer in his desk before pulling out a scroll wrapped delicately in a white ribbon. Etched on it was a carnation. Kagami felt a chill run through her spine.

"The white carnation." Yakunan confirmed. He unfurled the scroll and began to read the contents. "A meeting would be pleasurable. I will bring some of my root and I would like you to bring some of your people. Below is a list of those I would like to see in attendance." Yakunan glanced up at Kagami whose brows furrowed. "You of course, Abe Yakunan, Ōtsutsuki Kagami, Wada Aki, and Sugimoto Kazuhiko. My group will come to you. Shimura Danzō."

Kagami gasped. "How does he know of our last names? We never told anyone!" Yakunan shrugged.

"It is perplexing. I understand that we sent Taro on the mission to Leaf, recall him immediately. We need all in the base for this. Gather Aki and Kazuhiko as well." Yakunan threw the rest of the paper off of his desk in anger. "How could he have gotten all this information?" Kagami padded slowly towards the younger, blind man and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yakunan, my father was Ōtsutsuki Hamura. My grandmother made some bad choices by eating the fruit from the Shinji tree and ended up the first human to be able to use chakra. I apparently inherited her choice-making skill and chose to do the wrong thing. I was given another choice after my initial mistake. I could drink from the hero water or die."

"Doesn't the hero water shorten the users life?" Yakunan interrupted.

"Not the original hero water. Not the one I had. I thought that living eternally would be amazing. No worry of dying of old age. What I didn't know was that I had to watch the horrors of, well, everything." Kagami drew Yakunan closer and whispered in his ear fiercely, "We cannot let Danzō get anywhere near the assassin. I think that's what he wants." Yakunan nodded.

"Yes Kagami." The two of them left the room immediately, heading to the safe room where they would gather and wait.

Shimura Danzō was dangerous, and if the rumors were true, he was about to get a whole lot more dangerous.

x

Sakura laid wrapped in thin sheets, a light sheen of sweat covering her body. Uzumaki Naruto lay next to her, his muscled arm draped across her naked torso.

They had a rough night.

Sakura relished in the warm love that Naruto had shared with her, although it brought a pain to her heart to think that she was officially cheating on her husband.

She wanted both.

"Nnnghh." Naruto groaned, rolling over onto his back, his pectoral muscles rippling with the early morning effort.

"You need to get up, Naruto." Sakura gently rustled his shoulder. "We need to head back to Konoha." Naruto blinked slowly, his pupils dilating and contracting while getting used to the bright sunlight that filtered through the window. He immediately jackknifed, scaring the living daylights out of Sakura. "What's wrong?"

"Something's happening. Oh my kami," Naruto rubbed his face fervently with his hands. "I totally forgot, there was a random chakra signature following you. I felt it all the way to the motel, then it suddenly disappeared." Sakura's eyes widened.

"What does that mean?" she asked. "Did you give Tobi to someone?" Naruto nodded.

"Two ANBU, but they must have been special because they had nothing on their masks. I think they were supposed to be bears." Sakura shrugged.

"I don't know how it works. But you said someone was following me? What's going to happen?" she asked, pressing her chest to his shoulder. He blushed at the contact.

"I-I'm not s-sure." He stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just had a feeling." Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"When do you get those feelings?"

"Last time was when you found Tobi." Sakura gulped.

"So it means something bad is going to happen. We need to leave, now."


End file.
